1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording method.
2. Description of the Related Art
For recording an image, two-liquid reaction systems have been studied which use an ink and a liquid composition containing a reaction agent capable of destabilizing the dispersion of the pigment in the ink. Among such two-liquid reaction systems, a system using an ink containing polymer particles has been studied (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 7-32721, 2010-31267, 2010-46918, and 2011-178033).
On the other hand, an image recording method (single-liquid reaction system) not using a liquid composition has been studied for recording high-density, high-quality images (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-92317). This method takes advantage of the nature of the ink itself to react. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-92317 discloses an image recording method using an ink containing a pigment, polymer particles, and a block copolymer having an ethylene oxide structure and a propylene oxide structure. This block copolymer gelates at a specific temperature (gelation temperature) or more. This patent document describes that the ink aggregates rapidly by being applied to a recording medium heated to the gelation temperature or more.
In the studies of the present inventors, however, the image recording methods using the two-liquid reaction systems of the above-cited patent documents did not provide high-quality images when recording was performed at such a high speed as to meet recent demand. Also, in the above-cited single-liquid reaction system, the apparatus for this method tends to become large because the recording medium must be heated.